Final Thoughts on Basic

After sitting here and being home for about 11 days or so it gave me some time to reflect.  I of course stuck with my normal routine and returned back to my Civilian Career the very next morning after getting back.  3:03 wake up.. gym.. on to work for a 10 hour day and back home.

Notes on being home:  To me time crawled while I was at Basic.  Here.. everyone says that the time went fast and it was like I wasn't gone very long.  Thats total BS because those days didn't even move some times.  I felt like I was missing everything that was going on and the lack of communication made that seem even worse.  After being home a few days I realized.. absolutely nothing did change. I didn't not miss any big events.. work did not change one bit and I was able to get back in the swing like I never left.  Weirdest feeling ever.

The demands of Basic:  Physically I feel like it was too easy.  I actually agree with some of the Drill Sergeants and believe the physical limits should be increased.  They did admit to us that Basic was not at a level to be physically demanding if you were already someone that was in decent shape.

Mentally: this is where the struggle was.  I only had about 3 bad days where I was dragging and fed up with all the demands, screaming, orders, and so on knowing that I didn't need that mess... that I had a great job and life back home.  That only set it temporarily before I had to remind myself that I didn't not join for myself.. that it was for a bigger purpose and reason.  Many of the guys had a rough first couple of weeks and several issues throughout the whole process.  Basic had a way of breaking the weaker guys down and made them do some real soul searching to pull out of it.  They all came out ten fold stronger in the end but it really tried them.

Upon the beliefs of some.. Basic is exactly like you see in the  movies.  They Drill Sergeants can not put their hands on you but as far as the yelling non-stop.. putting the guys down.. the jokes and making fun of every little thing.. the cleaning to a T... and so on is exactly how it seems.  It sucks major but thats how it is.  It builds men from kids.

My next phase is on to San Antonio for the Combat Medic training.  They say we get more freedoms.. keep our phone.. can go to the gym... I am actually looking forward to this new part for the next 4 months.


Keep in touch with the blog as I will try and update during big/fun events or once a week as a summary for the entire 16-17 weeks.

Thank you Everyone

Final Week

My last post was the last letter I really wrote due to the fact it would be pointless to send anymore home.  I would make it back before the  mail actually reached their.

Everything was pretty much the same so Ill give a summary.

We ended up doing alright in the final inspection but left feeling like we were the lowest of low and didn't clean or do anything right.  Apparently they left that feeling with everyone and we actually did decent.  No win for us but by this point whats new.

We did end up winning the final banner flag for combatives.  It was one of the few that didn't involve the whole platoon to participate.  The guys did awesome and won fairly easily.  Once again.. we by far had the strongest platoon but had just enough weak bodies to hurt us in most events.

Last week involved more and more cleaning.. graduation practice.  Everyone was pretty excited and we even got our phones back for good for the last few days.  This mean nonstop music playing which is what everyone really missed.

Family day was a neat little ceremony where we first earned the right to wear our berets.  Ive never been a fan of proper uniform and wear so it of course feels weird to me.  If you have time look up what it takes to form a beret.  Long process that involves shaving it, wetting it, and shaping it for hours in order for it to form the right way.

Graduation went off without any issue.  My mom was annoyed and trying to take as many pics as possible while all I wanted was to get the heck off the base and into civilian clothes.  Some good photos came out luckily but boy did it feel good to finally leave that place.  I even changed into my civi clothes and we found a neat little lunch spot.  I got to enjoy my first micro brew beer in 2.5 months so that was a big deal and it was amazing.

Recover week brought a new meaning to most of the guys.  Unlike how it might seem.. it is not a recovery for us.. it is for the Army to recover all of their equipment.  Total pain in the ass process and it took the entire week with not much sleep.  It was bitter sweet when it all ended.

12/9 WWE Tribute to the Troops/ Florida Georgia Line

Hi everyone..

I have 4 more days back home on leave before heading off to AIT in San Antonio so figured I would finish up the last few posts from Basic Training.

Another awesome day!!!  Started off at freezing temps this morning so we were let off of PT and just cleaned the bay.  Was suppose to have a class over sex signs and symbols but instead, starting with my group we were taken to trans to book our flights back home for the holidays.  Sweet.   Mine worked out perfectly.  My AIT is in San Antonio and my flight had a stop in Houston before continuing on to SA.  All I had to do was change the dates for the flight and my trip is 100% paid for by the Army.  Couldn't have gotten any better than that.

The normal cleaning and organizing took place the rest of the day getting ready for our big night.

This evening we got a special treat.  WWE (fake wrestling) did their 12th annual Tribute to the Troops show and it was here in Fort Benning this year.  We were given free tickets to attend the event and a cool shirt.  I've never been into WWE but it sounded fun to go to.  The tribute was pretty awesome to say the least.  Hulk Hogan, John Cena, Big Show, and others were there along with doing a military theme.  They also filmed their Smackdown segment the same night.  In between we knew there was going to be a concert but we did not know who was playing yet.  It turned out to be Florida-Georgia Line.  I saw them at the Houston rodeo last year and really like their up beat country music.  They rocked it out and put on a great show.  Any of the music fans and esp. country music fans agree that they made the night well worth it  The rest of the WWE show was entertaining as well.  Best part was we could eat/drink whatever they had besides alcohol.  Most everyone loaded up on Monster Energy drinks, candy bars, pizza, and hot dogs.  Yummy and yes yes.  The whole show was about 4 hours and we left about 2330.. home at midnight.  It is 233 and I am on another fireguard shift.  25% or about 12 of us are up at a time for 1.5 hours which means a combined 4 hours of sleep at best but well worth it.  When we woke up it will be out last day to clean before our big test/inspection on Thursday.  Pretty big deal so no sleep and 24 hours awake is coming up for us.  Oh jolly.  Suck but all gravy and graduation practice is only left for the rest of the time here after Thurs


SMILE!!

12/7/2014 "A Perfect Sunday"

This is the last letter I received from James in Basic Training. He is now home, catching up with his responsibilities and getting ready for AIT.

 

Today was a great day. Started the morning off having to work the last fireguard shift which was my third night for the night at 0500. Since I was up I got a quick workout and shower before chow. A big Sunday breakfast was on my menu and it was delish. Afterwards we cleaned some before leaving for church service. It was a beautiful day and we were awarded a “Sandhill” pass today. That means we can go anywhere on Sandhill and do whatever within limits. YESSSS mam!!!!!! Service was packed and was the second to the last one for our group and for the cycle as well before exodus. The Chaplin was in a holiday mood so threw in Jingle Bells in at the end for fun. Afterwards my group went to the Rec center. We ate Subway for lunch. I’m not a big fan of Subway but after 9 weeks of MRE’s and defac food the chicken, bacon ranch, sour cream and onion chips and coke tasted like Heaven. We then needed to waste time before the PX opened so we went to the computer room and browed everyone’s Facebook. Next was the PX trip. On this trip was the ice cream shop. BAM- 2 scoops of chocolate in a waffle cone. Again, not an ice cream fan but this rocked. Then back to the rec center. It was 1300 and NFL football time. We got to sit down and watch the first half of the Cincinnati vs Pittsburg.  I think that’s who it was but either way it was football. Freedom was nice. About 1400 we headed back to our normal cleaning duties but by then the day was already made. Its 213 and about to be lights out. We have 0300 and 0400 fireguard with 0430 wakeup so its bed time.

Hope everybody had a blessed Sunday and only 9 days left.

J

12/6/2014 "Soldier of the Cycle/ Recovery"

Every cycle each platoon has one soldier compete as soldier of the cycle against each other. Winners look good for the platoon but also win some gifts and recognition. This soldier may not be the best at all the events (I.E fitness, shooting, testing and so on) just needs good military presentation and knowledge. The “older” guys like myself and a few other good candidates decided to leave this to the young guns. A young guy that will be active duty will get the most honors. Anyways we chose our Platoon Guide, young kid; he has been a good motivator. Not the top in all of the categories but he is higher than average. Works hard and presents well so a good choice. This morning all four went to the Board for the test and he ended up winning. Awesome achievement and great for my platoon.

I was told my last writings made me seem a little down. Through this process I have been pretty good and steady. Had one week of impatience but that was the bad sick/ allegery week recently. We are on a coast now. Recovery for 11 days which is not physical recovery for us like it sounds…it’s Army recovering all of its gear from us. Long days of cleaning every piece of equipment, long nights waking up twice a night to do fire guard, to clean weapons over and over. Not going to be fun, but it is almost over. We continue to process today.

At lunch we marched up to the PX as a company. Everyone got a final haircut. We were allowed to get high fades/ high and tight instead of bald. Due to the 4 haircutters having to do 218 guys, some were not that efficient at this haircut. I picked the good guy and it turned out looking like my normal cut I get back home. Some guys were not that lucky, bald looks better. We got soaking wet marching the 2 miles back.

Anyways- good day. Got a brief phone privilege- life is good.

 

“Strength is the product of struggle, You must do what others don’t to achieve what others wont.”

 

“Where there is no struggle, there is no strength.”

 

“You can do whatever you are willing to struggle for.”

12/5/2014 "Final of FTX's and 16K Ruck March"

What a long freaking day. We got up early to pack and clean our entire campsite. We are set to hike out on our final ruck 10-12 miles at about 1400. We still had blank rounds left so for inventory reasons it is easier to expend them all. Everyone loaded up a 20 round mag and fired the, off one last time.

We had an official ceremony before starting our ruck. Lieutenant Colonel came out as well. My Drill Sarge was re-upping for his second time and signing on for another 5 years.

About 1420 we started the march. My platoon started off as lead group so myself and my battle buddy set the pace for the entire company. During the first three miles we were going to take “Stairway to Heaven” a hill that is the highest elevation in the area. Due to our route. We attacked it after the first mile and then turned around after about ½ mile and did it again. No lie…it was pretty tough. During the march we stopped about every hour, so 3 stops in all for about 10 minutes apiece. We kept pretty good time. Our rucks were unloaded from 75 lbs. to about 30 lbs. the end of our march was the best. As we approached out bay (CTA) area it was complete darkness. They had chem lights along the path. Closer to our area they had tiki lights on the sides and smoke going across the entrance. Music was blaring and everyone was pumped since our Basic journey was finally wrapped up. Pretty sweet feeling.

The best feeling was finally hitting a shower after 5 days. Chow was nice too since they made us skip lunch chow.

After chow it was already 2230. Instead of recovering we had Drill Sarge Sierra (major buzzkill) so he had us lay out all of our equipment and start cleaning. Worn out tired, right at midnight he finally left us alone.

Bed was amazing.

12/3/2014 "Stench of Men"

1524 sitting in a foxhole. We just finished running another battle drill. This time it was reaction to a near ambush. I led my fire team wedge with Bravo closely behind led by the squad leader. We crossed a bridge and as soon as we formed back up we were ambushed by 2 enemies. Ambush is within grenade range or 35 meters and closer. My team covers/ returns fire- gets in line and chunks grenades. Shortly after we assault though. A near ambush has about 70% chance of death for the squad team getting ambushed. Scary numbers. Our Drill Sarges gave a face painting class so like little girls we all applied the correct camo war paint on now. Cute stuff. Now we are on security until next drill.

Last night got interesting. Our Drill ran over about 2100 saying Delta team/ company was on their way. They fired a flare signaling their attack. Everyone locked and loaded and too perimeter security positions. Got some of the guys worked up BUT in the middle of all of that one of the soldiers from my platoon lost his weapon. BIG NO NO and very serious. If not found in one hour then the entire Fort Benning gets put on lock down until found. Turns out another platoon stole it as a prank. Not so funny to the drills. The flag is one thing but a weapon is a known- don’t mess with. Out Drill was mad at our guy but furious with platoon 4. As of last night they were going to give him an article 15 and kick him out of the army. That serious, not sure if that changed or not. For the next 2 hours 4^th platoon ran indirect fire with mortars having to run everywhere. Major suckfest. They also got hit again about 0230 with the same drills. This morning, same drills for us…pack up all of camp and 70 lbs. rucksack; haul them off to morning chow. Pain taking this dang thing everywhere.

The more I write the more I feel sorry for my mom. In the field I can barely read my writing.

Notes: to: Highlight- exactly 2 weeks until graduation!!!

Yesterday was two weeks until family day.

I found out the Army won’t pay for my way home but they will pay to get me from Atlanta to San Antonio.

They reimburse the difference if we go anywhere else. Since I am living in Houston they basically pay for me to get home and I have to take care of getting to AIT in San Antonio when training starts.

3 days outside and no shower- WE STINK.

12/2/2014 "Day 2 Final FTX"

It is only 2005 but seems so late. Waking up at 0430 and spending all day outside makes it seems late when it’s been dark for a couple of hours now. This morning we started a war with one of the other platoons. About 0530 we sent 2 guys over to steal their Guidon “flag”. They walked right in their camp acting as DS, telling them to make sure everyone was awake and to be quiet and turn the lights out. Then while they were busy waking everyone up our guys just took the flag and walked out. We had it at morning chow and the DS got it back only after our Drill took a picture with it and text it to all other Drills.

Today we relocated camps. Spent part of the day making it home and camouflaging the hutches only to have to move everyone back to company guard just like last night. We were told Delta company may try to night raid so the Drills wanted a tighter security will all platoons. We think it is because it makes it easier for our Drills to run raids on us. We shall see I guess.

Today was fun. Everyone was given 3 clips (60 rounds) of blanks for battle drills. We got on Fire Team wedge and then march formation running scenarios. In one while I was team lead we got ambushed/ took fire from enemies. We took cover, fired back and got everyone positioned without having causality. Other squads had 3-8 causalities. They also threw out simulator mortar rounds where we would take cover/ drop during “incoming” and the go or rally to a safe location, set security perimeter, and check everyone. We were able to go through a few runs and using blanks and our laser vest made it more realistic. Tomorrow we bus out for Urban operations so it should even be better. Long night ahead so off to start guard.

Night J

12/1/2014 "Day/Night 1 FTX3"

Happy December. Month of cheers, family, Christ, fun, and me coming home YAY!!! Sorry mom for the bad writing but I’m sitting on my helmet in the middle of the night writing by moonlight.

This morning we just issued out gear and packed our 70 lb. rucksack for those 5 days. After lunch chow we hot the trans to take us to location. They so kindly dropped us off ½ mile away so we could walk through the soggy bottoms and hills to our location. This afternoon and night we just set our initial camp up. They issued out high tech laser tag equipment to everyone. Laser attachments on our M16’s that react when we fire blanks and everyone has a vest and helmet set of sensors that knows when we are shot.  A DS then has to reset us. Didn’t try it out today but the next few days we will use them in battle drills. FUN, FUN, FUN.      AFTER TONIGHT WE WILL SPLIT UP INTO PLATOONS TO SET UP NEW Alpha Alphas or home base. The weather is nice and only about high 40’s to low 50’s. tonight since we are packing up in the morning I am opting not to roll out my sleeping bags set. Since it is a pain in the ass to roll it back up. I brought an extra blanket and my poncho over top we strung together will block the wind and keep the dew off. Once we move tomorrow we will be there for the next 3 nights so we will make a kick ass fort then.

All I hear in the distance is rounds being fired from night ops going on around us. I drew first security watch so off to that for me. See you manna. When I write.

121/30/2014 "Final Test Pre-pack/Sunday Funday"

Fav Song today:

“Like a Lion”

 “My God’s Not Dead,

He’s Surely Alive

He’s living on the inside

Roaring like a lion”

 

Other Songs:

“Our God is greater

Mighty to Save”

 

Sunday relaxation day. Chow was great. Service was packed at church. Half the guys are from Alpha and Bravo companies and graduate on Thursday so they were into worship today. It was a gorgeous day today. We did normal cleaning but today was all about preparation. Tomorrow we leave for FTX3. This will be 5 days and 4 nights of being out in the field. Field exercises/ battle drills during the day and sleep/ security at night. During the night the DS and other platoons will make raids on every platoon to ensure they are actually pulling security. Not taking a shower for 5 days will suck and stinking highly. Our rucksack we are packing and taking weigh around 65 lbs. on the last “Friday” we will pack up and hike out at 1600 for our 12ish mile final hike back. Last big test.

Today a few of us were able to go to the gym near us that is used by the athletic trainers during the week. Not allowed to use dumbbells but it felt great to get a sort of weight workout in. I miss the gym for real…and music.

This will be my last chance to mail out until next week so expect all my field experiences to come as one. Excited and ready to get Basic over with.

Love yall.

11/28-11/29/14 "Staff Duty/Buddy Team Fire Drills"

11/28/14

SLOW, BORING, DAY. We had a split day today. Platoons 3 & 4 had combative while 1 & 2 packed and took off to the firing range. One of our DS had staff duty today, which is an “Admin/ Secretary” coverage type fill in. it goes for 24 hours and 2 of us soldiers from 3^rd rotate every hour to help cover. I had morning shift at the same time combative started so I was going to have to show up late to that. Or so I thought. Right before my shift ended some Sergeant Something brought in a huge stack of tests. He needed them graded today so my Drill has us stay to help the next shift. All of this, 8 guys total in all, as 5.5 hours later we finished. Good part: it was the end of the cycle test we have to take to graduate and have family day so we got a pre-study guide. Always a positive side.  The rest of the day was chow and cleaning.

11/29/14 Fire team movements

Today was another fun day for me. It was a bad day for chow. We had morning chow at 0700 and trans at 0730 which summed up to only 5 minutes to eat breakfast. So no cereal, no big fruit platter, no time to enjoy. Pshhhhh…lunch was MRE and I drew a dang vegetarian pasta one. Usually vegetarian ones have the best snacks and candy. Mine had nada, a dang pound cake and strawberry shake. LAME.

As for the firing range, it was Buddy Team Tactics today. It was set up with an outer fence and a building in the middle. A dirt road down the middle and on either side was 4 different barriers at about 10-15 yards apart. There was a 25 meter target and then another 5 or so starting at about 100 meters and beyond. The team members would start patrolling towards the targets. The purpose of the drill was to move as a team, cover each other as we advance to the target assault. A Sergeant would yell “Contact” and the drill would start. The first run was done with blanks and final run was live fire with 2-20 round mags a piece. We would hit the first barrier and “return fire” at the close target. 3 hits and it would remain down. From there the members took turns advancing while the others did suppressive fire at the “enemy/ other targets”. At the last barrier the inner guy would throw a frag grenade at them after we would expend the remaining rounds if any were left. The other big key was SAFETY of course. Most don’t have barrel awareness so keeping it forward while running, initiating setup, and withdrawing from a barrier were main items. I had a blast. My team members and I moved through with no issues while slaughtering the targets. These are the kind of drills I love here.

Rest of the night…packed rucksack for our 4 night final FTX on Monday. Last big event then recovery week and graduation. Excitement is in the air.

BOOM

11/27/2014 "Thanksgiving/Suckfest Morning"

Happy Thanksgiving!!!!!

Whatever idea that us soldiers thought in regards to having an easy day went out the window quick before morning chow. Drill Sergeant Sierra had night shift and sometime this morning he locked himself out of his office. In return for his boredom, he spent the morning in my platoon’s bay harassing us. At 0500 we started morning PT as a group in our bay. At 0600 he came in and took over until 0730 making us do exercise rotation several times. This man has the abilities to take a cheerful spirit and morning and crush everyone’s desire to work. We get so annoyed by his tactics that we actually lose motivation. The loss of spirit causes the men to turn on themselves and start pointing fingers. As we started getting dressed for breakfast he stepped back in, didn’t like something he saw and started playing games. Giving us 3 minutes to change into full ACU’s (pants, green socks, boots tied correctly, tan shirt, ACT top, PC (Cap) then as one person was not 100% right we had 3 minutes to change into full winter PT (Shorts, long wind pants, white socks, shoes, gray short sleeve shirt, long sleeve shirt, wind jacket, fleece cap). This went on for about 6 changing’s…meanwhile other platoons were eatingL. Finally we get to eat and all that was left was granola bar each and 2 overcooked boiled eggs. NOOOoooooooo!

After morning chow we spent the time doing cleaning detail. Lunch was a special treat…one hour to eat…Drill Sergeants served us. Turkey, ham, chicken, roast beef, mac & cheese, stuffing, peas, sweet potatoes, rolls, salad, fruit and 3 kinds of cake. Music playing and everything was good again UNTIL right after. The minute we got back to CTA…we did a “gas drill” and had to put on our gas masks…then we had to do 30 minutes of working out. This sucked and lunch was trying to come up. Either way we got through it and things got a little better. We got our phones for a little bit to call family. This helped since most guys here have never been away from family for the holidays. My shift work has taken me away a few times in my civilian job so I was not hit as hard but I loved talking to everyone at home.

This evening my senior DS got everyone together…admitted to being wrong when he got my squad lost 3 hours and talked about how much of a “suckfest” it was. Because we didn’t complain and put all the extra miles in…he gave us an extra 30 minutes of phone. I used this for a few texts but mainly to listen to music. Man I miss music. Saw my Texas Aggies score first against LSU and that was it. Hopefully they pull it out. Gig ‘em.

More prep for the next couple of days. Y’all enjoy the rest of the week.

Miss everyone.

11/26/2014 "FTX3-Lost Hike"

This morning we wake up and the raining finally stopped. The Drills left us alone the first couple of hours. We were to pull 50% security and pack up our local camps. Hygiene is tough in the fields, baby wipe- wipe down baths, dry shaving (my face hates this), everyone smells. The clouds blew out to revel a clear sky. Stars were popping. After morning chow we worked on assault and ambush formations. By daytime, weather was cool, clear sky and nice. Georgia or at least Fort Benning weather has more mood swings than any female I know.

At 1030 we marched out to run drills in the terrain. This started an unplanned adventure. We ran a 9 man fire team wedge through the woods. The Drill would throw a smoke/ grenade dummy and we would have to react and assault as appropriate. As we started walking back, the Senior DS got us a little off track. His phone had bad service so the GPS app was screwing up. We hiked around for 2.5 hours and several miles. This turned out top be an enjoyable hike. We went across a few terrain changes, steep hills, soggy muddy bottoms, high tree lines and so on. Wearing the bullet proof vest is the only thing that ruined it. We eventually found a road and the Senior had other Drills drive to get us. We were no where near our camp.

Bad- little sleep, rainy and cold, knowing Thanksgiving is tomorrow.

Good- nature, fire squad drills, being back at our platoon bay, Thanksgiving is tomorrow.

I’m TIRED L

11/25/2014 "Unperfect Fitness/ Nick at Night"

Well I didn’t reach my personal goal of a perfect score on the Army Fitness Test. As an athlete/in shape as I would consider myself, I never trained or conditioned my body to max at reps on sit-ups. My core and abs are great but my hip flexors and quads tired to failure. I started at maxing points on push-ups with 80 pushups in 2 minutes. I felt great. I needed to reach 82 sit-ups and I knew that would be a struggle. At 45 reps my legs were already feeling it…bad sign. I pushed it and never quit but 70 reps was all I could reach which is only good enough for 87 points. HUGE disappointment but I can guarantee that I will get a perfect score when the official test is taken at my Advanced Training in San Antonio after the Christmas exodus. High points- I PR’d (personal record) in all events. Hit a best of 12:10 minutes on the 2 mile run. My score of 287 was 3^rd in my platoon behind two 18 year old high school athletes. Top 12 in the company of 218 soldiers. (Train harder, stay positive, don’t quit, and succeed).

Next on the list. FTX2 (Field Training) we rode on the bus for over 20 minutes and were dropped off on a dirt road. Each platoon assembled a fire team squad of 7 guys to advance ahead of the group to secure base. I was part of my squad. The area we were in has been used for several years as a training area. The roads were lined with razor wire, barricades, foxholes, other defensive builds. We arrived at our base and each platoon spread out to different sections in order to provide 360 º securities. There was barbed wire perimeter, 10-12 guard towers an open field in the center. My squad setup security and then I took 3 guys back to get the rest of the platoon. When we got back we spread the rest of the soldiers up in battle teams and we were to setup our sleeping area. Past foxholes were still present. The weather projected rain so we had set up hutch’s and use our porches to create a dry environment over the foxholes or using trees and limbs to build a tent. Being the smart individual I am. I claimed the space under a tower so I already had overhead cover, dug it out more, and hung mine and my battle buddies porches up in a way that the rain drops would run out to the ground. It was also next to a back entrance gate so we had prime guard spot. After watching most of the guys setup, I knew any rain would get them wet.

The skies were getting darker and it started sprinkling. We took off for night training at 2000. Nick at Night is a live fire obstacle course crawl. 107 meters through dirt, mud, under wires, over logs, a couple of tower setups firing live rounds over our heads and more. It was completely dark so we would see tracers rounds going by, when the flares hit the sky we had to freeze, and smoke bombs going off. Rain had been coming down for about an hour by the time we went. Miserable and cold. By the time we finished we were caked with red mud and nasty. It was cool but I would be alright not doing it again. Crawling that far sucks. We had Kevlar vest with plates (25 lbs) boots and helmet, FLC (9 lbs), and weapon. I was glad when we were complete.

We got back to base about 2300. Rain was still falling and everyone was soaked.

As I figured…most of the guys foxholes had standing water in them and their gear was wet either because they didn’t support the poncho covers enough to block the rain, or they didn’t build a trench/levee around their site to redirect the ground water away from them. My tower hutch was NICE & DRY! By the end of the night guys were cramming 6 deep into guard towers to stay dry and get some sleep. We had to pull 25% security so one in every 4 guys ran security for an hour while the other 3 slept. This kicked off at bedtime (midnight) max sleep before wakeup…3 hours…bummer. The temperature dropped some but in my 3 layer sleeping bag with the rain, I slept like a beast for those few hours. 4ish am wake up for Field Training in the morning and Wednesday during the day.

11/23/2014 "Sick Sunday/ Another Tornado Warning"

Today has been a Sunday unlike the others. Although some parts were slow and relaxing like the others, it was weird and annoying. It started out good, morning chow, great breakfast, cleaning the bay. Then the other DS that has been gone for the last 4 weeks came back today. This is another platoon’s Sarge but takes abuse out on our platoon. He made us write a 1000 word RBI over Respect last night. Made us pack, repack, empty  and repack our rucksack that we are going to need for Tuesday and Wednesday, when we have our FTX2 overnight training. We had to form up in the rain and wait for him to finally grant us lunch chow. This evening while he gave his platoon phone time, we had to clean the command center and the entire CTA (which is big). AND SO ON>>>>J but oh well.

The good…the Sunday service this morning was great. Not so much the sermon today, but the music and worship was moving. Oh yeah, it was raining all morning. Then right before lunch it came down super hard, wind, lightening and sideways wind, and dangit. 218 guys crammed back in the hallway. Luckily it only lasted about 15 minutes. Right after evening chow we came out to a double rainbow. The first rainbow was the brightest full one I have ever seen. Gorgeous sight. Then, within 10 minutes of standing in formation, we came out to rainclouds everywhere, then high winds and clouds zooming by, then bright blue clear skies. Weird, weird.

Tomorrow starts out busy but important week leading up to thanksgiving. Last and final fitness test, FIX2 overnight and combative competition if time. Hope everyone had a blessed Sunday and great thanksgiving week.

11/22/2014 "Return of Drill Sarge"

Today was one of the best Saturdays we have had in terms of being busy. With some of our biggest tests coming up they are trying to throttle down for a couple of days. We were supposed to have our combatics competitions today, first aid drags, and prepare for our final fitness test on Monday. They changed our fitness test to Tuesday and moved combatics to the following week to give everybody the best chance at a full recovery prior to the test. The last 4 days we have been in full battle rattle so an extra 40ish pound wears on the legs.

After chow we hit the rock pit PT fields. We had to successfully complete a series of carries/ drags. I won’t lie; in the soft rocks it adds a little higher level of toughness. One of the kids I have mentioned before is the small one that has heart but lacks physical abilities. A DS from another company made fun/ picked on/ bullied him pretty hard for a solid 5 minutes while we were in formation after chow. He is a Drill for an infantry platoon so naturally he didn’t respect our support squad. He went on about how our small kid couldn’t drag or save one of his big guys out of the field during a battle. In the Drill’s defense, he’s probably right but in our defense his platoon looked like crap for infantry. Out of shape, not in matching uniformity, not covering right while in formation and just sloppy. Anyways, I partnered up with the little guy and we carried a kid that was probably 180 lbs. little man struggled big time which moved the bulk of the load to me. I hated doing it but I told him he better start working his butt off because that bully Drill was right. If he is ever put in the position to have to drag someone to safety he is going to need to buckle down on a strength program. Anyways rant over, the rest of the caries were pretty cool.

On another note. One of my Drill Sarges returned from being gone due to training for the last 4 weeks. He is tough, demands perfection, but is extremely detailed oriented and explains and helps us with everything. He is what out platoon needs at this time to straighten up. He gave us an hour before evening chow and the time after chow up till free time at 2000 to clean weapons, clean the bay, and get a “sweat session” in. everyone needed to conduct one last workout session in our own bay to prepare for the test.

It is 2100 and almost lights out. It is Sunday tomorrow so excited buzz is all around. We get relaxation, Sunday services and a phone call. Happy freaking weekend everyone.

11/24/2014 "Rocket Launcher and Grenade Launcher"

Today was another range day. Morning was more cleaning after chow, then throwing on full battle rattle for the range.

Range setting, upon arrival this range was like none of the previous ones. It was newer and had sort of rolling hills. We were at the top overlooking a good portion of Fort Benning. In the background, it seemed about every 20-30 minutes another plane would make a trip and anywhere from 10-30 (couldn’t tell) paratroopers or Airborne in training soldiers would parachute out of the plane and make a line of black dots in the horizon. The range had about 9-12 old army vehicles set up as targets. Today we were going over the AT4 anti-tank rocket launcher and the 203? Attachment grenade launcher on to the M16. The AT4 shoots an 84 mm shell but we were only shooting 9 mm tracer rounds. Essentially it was like shooting a homemade potato gun that we used to build back home. Fun to shoot but pretty weak in the practice form. Couple of small fires started due to the tracer rounds but went out quickly. The grenade launcher is a pretty cool and super useful piece of equipment. Not only can it shoot grenade rounds but smoke, pyro and other rounds as well. We shot a full size dummy round so when it hit a target, bright orange powder would go everywhere. A little more fun and a live round would have been awesome but no such luck for us.

After we got back it was chilled since our big test is tomorrow. I’m a little nervous. Sit-ups are still a problem. As a personal trainer I always taught to do a sit-up in a fashion that made you utilize the core while going up but also when going down. This tires the hip flexors as well. When going for max reps this is a bad thing. You need to relax the abs and throw your body to the ground. If I can break the mental barrier and inner trainer for the test, a perfect score is feasible. A hot wake up shower and warrior stance to pump myself up may be the trick. Whichever slackers don’t pass the test tomorrow, they are automatically packing up their gear and moving bags since they will not graduate or pass with us. So far that number is four.

We also have our night live fire race. MUDF is a platoon vs. platoon crawl through the mud, under barbed wire, over walls, more climbing, while smoke, live fire, grenades and so forth are going off. The winning platoon win that banner so we need to kill it.

It is 2224, I wake up the next fireguard shift in 10 minutes and the hopefully 5 hours of sleep for me.

Oh yeah…got a brief phone time, talked to my mom and buddy Cory; my two sisters- Tara and Lisa ignored my calls but I spent the rest listening to music. Oh how I miss music. J

Good Night.

11/21/2014 “Expert Grenadier”

Today was grenade qualification. It was weird, strange, fun, new, punishing kind of day. We woke up early to the First DS not liking the way the command suite was done last night. We had to put it in high gear to get it to his standard. His standard was so much bleach that it burns your eyes and hair. Done…but put us in a time crunch to load transit. We got to the grenade range and we were supposed to eat chow. BUT…4^th platoon has chow duty and forgot plates. This pushed chow back which made my stomach angry.

To start off grenade training, after the instructor course. We went through the line once to do a step by step demo, and then grabbed 2 more grenades to do a qualification drill. During all of this we used real grenades but they were just blasting caps. They still had the 3-5 second timer and popped loud but no explosion. We were monitored to ensure we followed safety protocol, had the right technique, and could throw far enough. After we threw we were to duck and cover so you don’t get to see your throw. I impressed the instructor with a good throw. (I really don’t know what good is but I’ll take it).

Next we went to the live range. This of course was pretty awesome. Again, what guy wouldn’t want to throw grenades? We rotated 4 at a time and throw two live grenades. The rest stood behind a blast wall and were able to watch. Some threw like girls and some could chunk it, but they all exploded the same. Amazeballs. Never got old watching this. During my time I was calm but giddy. After my throw the Sergeant said, “Damn boy…are you related to Peyton Manning? You chunked the sh_t out of that grenade.” That was just awesome. We had to clean the live and practice range. In all this was like 500 live and 600 dummy grenades. All that was left of live was the spoons, but the practice range had spoons, blasting caps and shells. What a bummer.

Then we had the grenade course. We competed for a level similar to rifle range… marksman (level 2)… (Level 1)…and (expert). We threw at targets like trenches and vehicles with an inner arcade of sandbags we had to land in. throwing from a standing and kneeling position; to compete for the platoon banner. Everyone that made it past one level, and then competed for their platoon on the next level as a team vs. team (platoon) set up. Out of 218 soldiers, about 80 made it this far. Next level was kneeling on one knee and landing a grenade in a circle about 25 meters away. I made it and one other from my team, as my DS says, we had a lot of “Weak Bodies”. We lost but only 15 out of 218 completed this successfully. We earned the expert badge for this. Another accomplishment in the books.

After making it back and eating chow, it got bad. The Drills were upset about something. Still not sure what it was but sometimes there isn’t a reason. My drill got us for about 20 minutes, doing all the exercises while holding our weapons, major pain. Then the night Drill decided to play “Dress up Barbie” and give us a weird time crunch punishment. We would have 4 minutes (impossible time for everyone to make) to change into mixed up uniforms of his choice. Part PT, one shoe, one boot, jacket, shorts and other weird combos. One hour of this dress up changing game. Soooooooooo annoying but just had to go with it.

Out free time was taken by cleaning duties so I’m writing from bed. Tomorrow is our combative competition.

This week has flown by and I’m thankful for all of it. Glad to see family, friends, my truck, dogs and my bed really soon. As close as it seems….we have a tough next couple of weeks.

Happy weekend everyone.

11/20/2014 "White Phase Testing"

“Drive on 1^st platoon, drive on first platoon.”

“One day you’ll be alone, way out there in the combat zone”

“Bullets flying all around, keep your head down to the ground”

“Don’t worry, you’re not alone, 3^rd platoon’s gonna bring you home.”

This morning was relaxed, like the cram before a big exam. We still got up early, but PT was switched to the afternoon, so we cleaned our bay spotless, because a new Commander was walking through. Then we did last minute studying for our exam. After chow we all took our exam. It was pretty easy. Rank structure, General orders, Alphabet military style, military time, and about 30 questions about customs, M16’s and so on. We then went to the PT rock pit and practiced our form and safety over grenades. Tomorrow we qualify on grenades. PT was at 1500 and for once it was light outside and warm. I loved it. Normal preparatory exercises, then 60-120’s on the track. We did longer than normal for 9 rotations which added up to about 2.5 miles, then the 300 yard shuttle sprint (kind of sucked). We then graded exams and hit chow again. I missed four so I aced it.  

Chow, decided today to start cutting back the bread now. 2 pieces of toast or 2 rolls and a muffin every meal, now I’ll allow one slice or a roll. Sub more fruit in the morning.

We got mail call again. Our Senior DS kind of likes this time because he likes the excitement, smiles and overall mood when everyone receives mail from loved ones. One of my best friend’s (Cory) mom sent me mail. Thank you Ms. Toni. I tried calling Cory with no luck last Sunday, so this was great timing.

Was able to knock out 100 pushups and sit-ups before shower and getting ready for bed. I have fireguard at midnight for an hour and again at 0400. They tossed me on that shift so I can grab my morning workout and shower. Due to range time tomorrow we take transportation before 0700 so we are skipping PT and eating breakfast at the range.

Almost Weekend.

Yippee!!!!

11/19/2014 "Frozen Range Day/Night"

1547 we are sitting around in formation back to back near the gun range waiting for dark. A smoke session will happen soon. We got hit hard upon arrival. In full battle rattle it was pretty tough.

This morning was GC- cold….20’s or less. Below 60 in our sleeping bags. So much that after my 0300 fireguard I got fully dressed in winter PT’s and went back to bed instead of my normal wake up and shower. Once we formed up outside at 0500 the senior DS said “F--- this I’m old…it’s cold…go clean the bay- no PT!” Best moment ever. It’s gorgeous now.

We shot a round earlier, 50 rounds to use our red dot scope, 20 kneeling near a wall and 10 prone unsupported. Shooting at our pop up targets, so it was fun. I scored a pork rib in my MRE which is exactly the same as the McDonald’s McRib. About 1800 we start night shooting, utilizing our night monocular and laser. We will be on the range until 2300 so I bought an extra Clif bar from the “Gut Truck” as a late night snack. Time to group study for White Phase testing tomorrow. I’ll fill in on the night shooting later. J

2213 we just got back to the bay early because it was freezing outside. The shooting was fun. The lasers weren’t zeroed so aiming was pointless, but we got to test at night vision scenarios so that was the point. With all the shooting it was neat watching the tracers shoot off. We are still waiting for our cleaning duties and orders so bed is still a little ways off.

Our DS decided we could get our “Punishers” name back. As a group we had to do about 1000 pushups or about 20 a piece. We were motivated, so 1^st squad alone (I’m in first) out of 4 hammered out 490 of them alone. The team has started acting better so it was good to get our name back.

J I have my wool blanket and socks in the dryer getting warm for bedtime. Boy when that time comes I’m going for full wrap up mode.

Late night but still Happy Humpday!

11/18/2014 "Red Dot Scope Rifle Day"

FYI- another mail day…no mail for me…like a birthday boy and no one showed up to my party. L Haha.

Anyways, it is always cold here. Early freaking morning fitness was good but oh so brrrrrrr. This week my platoon is first in to chow, which means longer time frame for us. Which is sweet and it must show. I’ve gained 2.1 lbs. since coming here. Poor, single man life over Christmas break will fix that.

Today was range day for advance rifle skills. 15 of the top shooters in each platoon were fitted with CCO (red dot scopes) on our rifles. We then zeroed them in with 30 round clip and let everyone else take target practice after that. It was pretty fun. Due to the weather and Army training standards of safety…a heat tent with a couple of small heaters was set up for the guys to rotate through to thaw out. I’m sure the “older” generation would have loved that back in the day. Before and after chow for the evening we had meetings. Tomorrow we go back to the range for day/night shooting. Going to be a long freaking day. All the expert and sharp shooters were fitted with lasers and NOD (night vision) for tomorrow. Our DS ordered us to use night vision for all of our fireguard duties over night instead of flashlights. This has everyone excited because what gut wouldn’t want to walk around for an hour using only “night vision”. Ummmmm….lame ones, so this will be cool. I for see some sock wars and what not. Today was a good day, be thankful for them all …appreciate. Keep your heart and eyes open to it all. Going to be awake for 24 hours straight tomorrow, so time to pack my gear and go to bed.

Night

11/17/2014- "Tornado Warning"

This morning started with a new twist. Like really. We woke up at 0345, weather warmed up about 20º from yesterday and rain in the forecast. As we are about to form up we were told PT and morning was pushed back about an hour to 0545, so everyone opened their lockers and laid down with their heads on our blankets, that we fold up in there right before it is time to go. The DS call us out; tell us we are under hurricane watch that started at 0400. This is why they pushed out time back. We were told the storm was heading our way and was about 70 miles way. We did out tornado drill and crammed at 220 guys into the hallway, freaking hot and stuffed like a can of sardines. No lie…within half an hour of the drill they called a real drill and the base sirens were going off. A lot of the guys without tornado experience were freaking out. Kind of amusing. We were in the hallway for about 45 minutes, but the DS kept opening the door for us. Rain was sideways and wind howling, it paused, and then came again. Finally it passed with no issues and the temperature had dropped back down to cold again. Grrrrrrr.

We had an extremely fast morning chow then went to electronic shooting range again. This time we were shooting in full battle rattle, (Kevlar helmet, FCC, pack, IPTO Kevlar vest…) little different but we got a red dot scope this time. Now we are talking. Tomorrow we hit the real range and get to do the shooting course, utilizing the new scope. Should be fun.

I got phone privileges last night and got to talk to a handful of people. Mainly I got to speak with my DeeDee, so that made my week. I miss her the most.

Big ranks are coming tomorrow, so a ton of cleaning tonight. Quick workout, shower. More cleaning starting at 0300.

Hope everyone enjoyed their Monday.

11/16/2014- "Peace"

“The greatest battle is not physical, but psychological. The demons telling us to give up when we push ourselves to the limit can never be silenced for good. They must always be answered by quite, steady dignity that simply refuses to give in. courage. We all suffer. Keep going.”

The mental battle is the toughest. I am picking myself back up. Although the guys didn’t notice. I felt myself losing patience, becoming irritated and annoyed a lot this week. I think the DS had the same feelings but they are allowed to express them. I need to keep composure. This for along the little things should be precise; the guys should clean up after themselves. Beginner moves should be executed with perfection, yet as a whole we still struggle.

Today I will recharge. Workout throughout the day to relieve stress. Isolate some. Study and prepare for White Phase test on Thursday. We move to the next phase if we all pass; which means more freedom and longer phone time.

Tomorrow I will start fresh. Keep patience. Be a better, sharper person in order to help others. Strength and leadership by example not by ordering.

I was just approached while I was bleaching the showers and the statement was; “Manning, you are always doing the right thing. Everyone else is lying around while you clean. We notice bro.” Feels good. Be a silent professional and it will show.

Happy Sunday y’all

11/15/2014 "2nd march- Urban Operations"

Today really was/is a long day. We licked the morning off at 0400 and started our company 12K march at 0500. ђђђ I was starving. They don’t feed us until after the march. Worst ever. It was also freezing….in the 20’s which should be illegal. I marched on the inside of the guys so I could motivate and make sure everyone didn’t fall behind. It really is beautiful outside marching as the sun rises. It turned out to be a good march…pretty…no big issues. We have one more in a couple of weeks that is about 20K.

Next we marched to our training location. Today was MOUT training. Military Operations Urban Terrain. More modern warfare cleaning building and such. It was really fun and interesting. Breaching buildings with a 4 man team working through each room cleaning or eliminating the enemy. There were six different building layouts to go through and soldiers would hide within as enemy combatants. It really showed how important team work was. One slip up, stall, hesitation and lives are lost. Shows how dangerous the situations are that these guys go through every day. Amazing.

On a bad note- the first Sarge jumped in and started beating up down today, not physically but verbally. Something set him off and he ran with it for almost 25 minutes. He filmed some to post on Facebook. He really tore into us on 8 count pushups and up down. SUCKED.

Other highlights. Tomorrow is another Sunday. Much needed relaxation. This week has just been physically and mentally tiring for reason. We got our individual pictures at first I didn’t really purchase much then figured my mom would be highly upset so I got a package. Video of our events, 700-1000 pictures of events, individual photo, platoon group photo and yearbook. I can finally change my photo on my grandma’s (DeeDee’s) wall  mine is still for my senior year in high school, 10 years ago. I am totally beat so lights out for this guy.

11/14/2014 "Machine gun day"

Yesterday was a long day even though it was fairly slow. We slept an extra 30 minutes, went to chow, and then loaded up for another day at the range. Today we are going to learn about and shoot the 240 Bravo and 249 Saw machine guns. Our sergeant that was the instructor started us off rolling in laughter. Mostly dirty jokes and stories how he grew up in the same “hood” as the rapper 50’s Cent. He spent 10 years in and out of juvie and five years in jail before the Army changed his life. We got to shoot 50 rounds through the 240 and 100 rounds through the 249. The 240 is a larger caliber and sweet to shoot. Targets started at 300 meters and went out several 100 meters. The 249 was also fun, with every trigger pull about 10 rounds shot. TRACERS EVERY 5 ROUNDS ALLOW US TO REALLY SEE WHERE EVERYONE WAS SHOOTING. But- BAD SIDE- tracers start fires. About halfway through shooting the 249 I saw I got a cease fire. They are used to fires and always call for them to get put out once several start or a fire is near the woods. That happened on my turn so the range day was over.

We got lucky and the bus driving us back was playing country music. Oh how is miss music.

After evening chow, we had more cleaning. The night DS was not happy, like always, so he kept us out in the cold, smoking us. Once we thought we were done, the Chaplain had a last minute meeting with us. It was 2100, which is usually lights out. He wanted to go over a 40 minute presentation over suicide. Apparently the holidays are a peak time. By the time we get out it was 2230 and new lights out was 2300. Blaaaahhhh….wake up was 0330 to get ready for our morning march. I’ll move on to a new today. J

Oh yeah. My platoon…or a certain few, keep messing up a lot of stupid stuff so our DS took our guidon flag away and changed our name from the “Punishers” to “Dead Guys” since he said we move so slow. That sucks.

11/13/2014 "Rifle Qualification #2- Cold Punishment Day"

2358 I didn’t have a chance to write about my day, but I am fireguard from 2400- 0100, so I have a few minutes. By the way my fingers hurt from being cold all day.

Started today off like every other morning. Personal 10 minute workout followed by group formation at 0500. today was leg- running day, so warm-ups, hip stability, drills, (vertical, laterals, shuttle sprint), followed by 7 rotations of 60/120’s on the track, 60 second sprint/ 120 second walk. The weather was in the 50’s but a front was moving in every minute.

Today was day two of rifle qualification. It was cold by this point, 42º on location but the wind was eating right through me. By the time I was up to shoot, I was shivering….Great… male it tougher. Remember every time I shot I was slowly figuring out how to over correct for my rifle not being zeroed correctly and them not giving us another chance to do this. My last practice scores were 10, 18, 26 and now the ones that count. Mt strategy was not to waste bullets on the 300 meter targets. There are 2 during the first 20 rounds while using sandbags in prone support and 1 in the next 10 rounds in prone unsupported. Expert level shooting is 36/40 hits. I was nailing them. Through the first 30 targets, I hit 27, only missed the 300 meter ones. The last 10 rounds were in the kneeling position. If I could hit 9 of 10 I would get expert….awesome. the third target was “Fast Freddie” at 50 meters. I rushed and missed hitting the dirt in front. At this point I was shivering from the cold and unsupported kneeling, bad combo. I still had expert hits with that one miss, but between letting that get to me and whatever else; I missed the next two targets as well. Noooooo. I recovered to hit the rest but there goes expert. Finished with a 34/40 and sharpshooter status. That is 30-35/40 hits (good enough to tie for second in my platoon) but that didn’t make me happy. No chance to shoot again so I had to settle. Some guys started yesterday and kept going back up until they qualified so they could graduate. This meant some shot upwards of 8 different times compared to one each day. I’m glad they had the chance to keep attempting. Most are in the support role, so handling a weapon will be unlikely.  We received our daily range smoke session. We were given a certain time to eat our MRE’s by and as a company, some guys were too slow…23 minutes of more exercises, squats, while holding a weapon out securing charging handle back, push to the freaking ups…ouch.

After chow, more corrective exercises. The first Sarge smoked all the platoon leaders because some guys out of 218 didn’t have their fleece cap. For the record my squad and platoon was good. Then the DS tonight had us back outside in PT shorts and a thin long sleeved shirt for over an hour. In this time we got a lecture about infirmity, being a man, earning the right to wear Army, and so on. We also did multiple sets of pushups as well as hit the track. To the track is about 250 meters round trip. First time we did 2 laps and next time 3. it is the low 40’s at this point, shiver control. 8 man fireguard tonight because every guy will pull one shift. Patoowee.

On a lighter note: our drill Sarge has been picking one music genre that my platoon has to sing a song to him. Yesterday was AC/DC and we did TNT…not bad, while marching in cadence. Today he wanted Toby Keith, Red, White and Blue. Due to the lack of country fans we botched it, but it was funny. Saturday is Spanish, should be interesting. We also got mail. Mom sent me ESPN magazine. Awesome but not allowed. My senior DS said I could pick them up to read on Sunday, so the guys are excited to catch up on sports.

Next couple of days are predicting sub-freezing temperatures. I am already whining and you may read the hurt in my next couple of letters. Stupid cold. I need to finish cleaning duties before back to bed.

Goodnight everyone.

11/12/2014 "Basic Rifle Qualification Day 1"

Last night I didn’t have fireguard, so I was able to catch some sleep. However, my platoon leader decided showers were not allowed in the morning, so this threw my morning routine groove off. I’ll get that rule flipped once I talk to the DS but until then I’ll take whatever punishment if the PG feels he wants to become because I’m going back to my morning habits tomorrow. At 0500 our PT was warm-ups, CP1 $2 for 10 more exercises, 1 minute then 2 minute max at reps on pushups and sit-ups, pull-up drills and then 8 minute run on the track so one mile.

A lot of nerves were flying this morning due to qualification on our M-16’s/ a group of about 9 guys from my platoon had a prayer circle and pep talk to ease their minds. I am slowly learning to over correct on my way out of sight/off zero weapon. I shout 26/40…not good but it qualifies for graduation. One of the young kids, Matthews, has a dead on rifle and he shot 38/40so expert. I joke with him because his prior job was at Chuckee Cheese, so he probably played video games the whole time. Tomorrow we go back to the range so I might shoot a round with his.

We got our butt’s handed to us again. At the range everyone that wasn’t shooting was in or near the bleachers. One of the platoons had guys goofing off. 4^th platoon always has the loudest guys and causing trouble, not listening, moving constantly while at attention. Well it was them. Senior DS got the whole company. Hold the action back on our rifles and hold them straight while in a squat position. This went on and off steady for the first 10 minutes. Then we did 8 count push-ups going in and out of the different counts, which is like doing a lot of burpees for 10 minutes. Then a lot of V-ups, supine bicycle, rower, prone row, pushups and high jumps thrown in for 10 minutes. Then we had to sprint up and down the street a few times. Line back up, go pick up al spent shell casings, clean the range, and prepare for the DS favorite time…SHAKEDOWN. Of course we get smoked one more time for another 10 minutes for various reasons and all the DS (7 total today) wanted to call an exercise.

 We receive our PT tests from Monday. I’m still #4 out of 56 in my platoon. We made a list of everyone that did not pass and we are going to start hosting short workout sessions in evening free time for these guys. Hopefully we can motivate them.

“Be strong when you are weak.

Be brave when you are scared.

Be humble when you are victorious.

Be a badass everyday!”

FYI- there is a Facebook page that the DS posts pictures on. Looked up a few not sure which page.

Fort Benning

1-46 Infantry Charlie Company Basic.

Those keywords should find the Facebook page.

Love Y’all

11/11/2014 "Veteran's Day"

Today was Veteran’s Day. Because of this, we get to sleep in some and have a partially easy day. Most of the DS had the day off, but so did the chow workers, so fast eating and leftovers are on the menu today. Our first half of the day wore on; bay clean up, reorganize lockers, and get assault packs ready for tomorrow. Right before chow we get our butts handed to us for a half hour smoke/workout session, just because. We also took our platoon group photo again because our Senior DS “I do what I want”, wanted to be in the pictures. After chow we did more combat drills. Then evening chow and clean up the entire CTA for 1.5 hours. Fun stuff.

We start our basic rifle qualifying tomorrow. The rest of our free time was spent cleaning weapons, practicing on the shadow box for sight picture and different setups. I’m pissed I have to attempt with a busted off sight rifle, but I’ll compensate for it.

Veteran’s Day. Although I’m technically not a vet, today is the first time I felt a connection to this day. It used to be that day honored in church or school that all the vets stood up. As I got older I felt guilty I was so healthy and had/ have the ability to contribute but didn’t. that guilt was also a sense of self pride in myself that I knew I could do more. I am by no means a comparison to the kids, boys, men and women that have deployed and served but I do feel more connected. First hand stories, similar training revolving around modern warfare, the history and passion evolved in the military. Maybe one day what I’m doing now will give me a chance to contribute, but until then I applaud and pray for all those that serve and have served.

***Loyalty, Duty, Respect, Selfless

Service, Honor, Integrity, Personal Courage***

11/10/2014 "M-16 Zero confirmed off"

What a long day. Started at 0245. APFT2 this morning. Big disappointment for me. Improved on pushups to 69. Lost a few to form but max out of 77 will be achieved in 2 weeks. Sit-ups ticked me off. First, the Ds didn’t want to count quite a few of mine. Lower shoulders need to touch by rule but he wanted the entire back to touch so I lost about 11. AND the doofus that was suppose to hold my ankles down slid all the way to my toes…anyone who has done a sit-up test knows how much harder sit-ups are when you have a bad anchor. On the other side I PR’d the 2 mile with a 12:32. Total score 269-300. pushups and run should be in the bag. New workouts stating in the morning to strengthen my hip flexors to help with the sit-ups.

We took off to the rifle range after chow, in full gear, and did a mock qualifying. Today’s deal was to learn how much I had to compensate in order to pass. First round of forty only hit 11. sighting off more than I thought. I’ll credit some to user error but Texas boys don’t miss like that. I changed on adjustment and got another chance. My pride was already hurt but I know equipment error and limited shots to fix were stacked against me. Figured out how to half way compensate and shot 23-40, the minimum to qualify. I’m upset but it will have to do. As for our PT test, our platoon did much better. 32 didn’t pass last time and this time only 12 didn’t. I’m proud of some of the guys and their improvement. A handful of guys are now wanting me to wake them up early when I get up to do extra exercise and shower.

SMOKING- besides doing 2-2-2 (2 min max pushups, sit-ups, 2 mile run) all before 0600 we got our butts handed to us, getting smoked. Before our 2 mile run the first Sarge smoked us for about 40 pushups, just because. Immediately after our testing, we put on our ACU’s. in full gear we got smoked as a platoon because we barely lost first in overall fitness test. 20 minute session this time. As soon as we arrived at the rifle range we got in front lean rest position just because. Midway through, the DS and Senior DS hit us with another 20 minutes of exercising. One more time after dinner chow we were also hit. Mondays at basic are the longest and hardest days by far. Back home work Mondays don’t compare.

Veterans’ Day is tomorrow, so we get to sleep until 0600 then combatics again. Should be a good day.

2300- fireguard shift, clean and mop showers, then back to bed a little before midnight for 5 hours. Nice!!!

What’s your next life goal? Are you constantly working to better yourself?

Do you still have dreams you want to achieve?

11/9/2014 "Day of Reflection"

“Everybody has a dream. It is all of us to want more for ourselves. It’s not a natural desire. But, what’s not in all of us is the commitment and discipline to bring that dream to life. Few people are willing to put the work in and that’s what separates those who just kind of want something and those who actually deserve greatness. I believe it is in all of us to do extraordinary things, even if we’re just ordinary people. Nothing can stop the desires of the determined.”

Today is Sunday. With out second APFT (fitness test) tomorrow it is definitely a relax day. I’m surprisingly sore and tight so stretching is in the agenda. A couple of battle buddies and I opted to take a morning 2 mile stroll to church this morning instead of waiting on the buses. Weather is amazing today. Sermon was good but the song worship won today. Bad note: the Drill Sergeants don’t go to service. It's suppose to be our get away but they do occasionally drop off and pick up soldiers. I’m not sure what the trainee soldier did but it led to the DS getting out of the vehicle and proceed to use every cuss word along with a few F bombs to let the soldier know he screwed up. This is an everyday occurrence but this happened in the church parking lot. That left a sour note on a few of us that witnessed this.

Afterwards I cleaned some of the bay and broke my weapon apart and cleaned it. Now I’ll take some advantage of some free time to write and stretch before studying some more. We have made it to the half way point for basic.

Notes so far:

·        Basic may be the same as the old days but modern depictions are pretty close. Drill Sergeants can’t put their hands on you (besides the range shakedown) but unlimited yelling, smoking, physical punishment, free time and sleep time cut down next to nothing, helping you realize how worthless you are, and so on still occurs.

v     Last night the company next to us messed up so bad that they got “evicted”. They packed up all their belongings, took apart the bunk beds, and hauled every piece downstairs to the common area and had to stack it all up. (mattresses together, bed frame pieces, baggage and so on. All neatly stacked. It looked horrible.

·        White phase is nice as far as the DS give us more space but when there is a screw up, we get twice the verbal beat down and smoking punishment. Bad with the good I guess.

·        Learning the true make up of the Army and majority of the kids that give their lives for our country is eye opening. So young, inexperienced, yet one way or another, they end up here.

1759 Got back from chow. Worst combo ever. I will be hungry again in 2 hours. How can you validate 2 grilled chesses as a main course? I’m sure as a kid I would have been excited but now I want meat, protein. What a mess and they were out of peanut butter. So carb load it was. 2 grilled cheeses, salad, mixed veggies and some form of fake French fries. I added a blueberry muffin and red apple. 2 glasses of milk. Big disappointment. Shower time then CQ meeting at 1900. CQ is our central quarters where we are assigned cleaning duties for the night before we are allowed free time is we have any left before 2100 lights out.

1014 got lucky for CQ. I am squad leader for Squad 1 and DS chose all the Squad 2’s to do the cleaning tonight. With the PT APFT two tomorrow starting at 0400 wake up at 0300…little stretching and reading, then hit the bed right at 2100.

Everyone have a great Monday.

11/8/2014 "Electronic Shooting Range"

Today was a good day. Electronic Shooting range. Playing with toy soldiers and phone day.

This morning was cold again. So much pain. Put me through as much physical fitness punishment as you want but I can’t handle the cold. Gross. We had warm up drills, CD1 and CD2 (five different exercises each), four for core, climbing drills again on the pull-up bars, 90 second max on pushups and then sit-ups. Another great chow morning. The other 3 platoons are now prohibited from eating muffins but our DS lets us if we pass our fitness test. For some reason that made my blueberry muffin that much better, along with two waffles, banana, grapes, strawberries, two biscuits and gravy, scrambled eggs, bowl of Lucky Charms, 1 piece of cinnamon raisin bread and 2 peanut butter packs and 3 honey packs. Delish.

Once again we loaded our Kevlar vest, full uniform and did the electronic range. It simulated our qualifying test on the shooting range that we take next Friday. Pretty cool stuff.

I did pretty good…sharpshooter status. Instead of getting the transit back, they decided to have us march a little over a mile back. Not far but the extra 50 lbs of gear is a pain. On top of that someone of course screwed up so we had to do multiple sets of squats and pushups in our gear. Then the DS let us take the gear off and do 20 more minutes of straight exercises since we were not load enough during morning workout.

Next we played with plastic toy soldiers. DS set up different battle formations and played like we were six years old again. Good visual learning but fun as well.

Oh! Oh! Our Sarge wanted us to sing a song with “soul”. most 18 year old white boys don’t do “soul” but in the middle of our DS lecturing us we broke out singing “A’int no mountain high enough…” Horrible sound but got a smile out of him.

We also took platoon pictures, so can’t wait to see them.

Phone privileges were today. About 20 of us got limited time due to the guys abusing the phone time last week. Because I am squad leader I had to be an ass and take everyone’s phones up 10minutes prior to cut off to ensure we were in the time frame. My service sucked but I did get to text a few friends. Everyone’s spirit here is pretty high now so that is a good thing.

By the way…AGGIES WON!!!! Saw the update on my phone. Upset #3 Auburn. Good news for me.

Love everyone back home. Happy weekend.

11/7/2014 "What happened to my shot?"

This morning my watch didn’t wake me up early…usually I have the last fireguard shift wake me up but they forgot. I still happened to get up 11 minutes early so I can get in a set of pushups and shower. I picked my two team leaders as well. I let the team submit names and let them choose one and I choose one. Hopefully we can line this squad out. PT this morning was warm-up drills, high knees, lateral walks, shuttle sprints…then split into 2 groups for a group run. 15 minute 2 mile and below in the first group. In formation we ran the 2 mile right about 15 minutes. Breakfast was for champions. French toast, biscuits and gravy on top of scrambled eggs, grapes, strawberries, Special K berries cereal, banana and a lot of syrup, honey and peanut butter. J

We spent the rest of the day at the rifle range. Today we were shooting 40 rounds. 20 prone support, 10 prone, 10 kneeling. Targets were silhouettes at 50, 100, 150, 200 and 300 meters. I was uneasy about the sights on my rifle since I only shot 15 times. Out to 150 was spot on, 200 was about 5-% and 300 was off. User error is a good probability but if the zero was off then the further at the target the more accuracy varies. Hopefully I can line it out tomorrow.

The last two days have been more gear. ICTV- Kevlar vest (30ish lbs), assault pack, FLK pack and usual ALU, helmet and weapon. We wear it to the range, strip it, then back on after the shake down. Worst part of the day is running the same hill that we ran day one for the shark attack. ¼ mile hill in full gear still sucks. The DS still find a reason to put us in resting position to do pushups. Pretty tough I won’t lie.

Today’s targets would fall down for about a second before returning to the upright position. That was pretty neat.

Big thank you to my Mom. She gave me a James Avery religious necklace shield with a cross and it says on the back “fear not for I am with you.”  I left it at home because I didn’t know I could wear it. When I found out I could I asked her to mail it. Somehow the necklace went missing from the priority box she sent it in. without telling me she ordered me a new one and mailed it directly from the store/ website and I received it today. Keeps a little part of home on me.

Easy day tomorrow. Electronic Shooting Range working on pop up targets. Another week almost gone. Will be home before I know it.

Yay

11/6/2014 "Country Boy Shooting"

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Today I finally get to fire my weapon. Well kind of. I woke up 30 minutes early again at 0345. went to wake up my workout buddies but this morning, everyone was too out of it to wake up so I got in 7 pushups, showered, then kicked the lights on to start everyone else’s day. Morning workout was CD1 and CD2- different exercises, then on the track. We did 2 minutes of max pushups for climbing drills. Had a great breakfast then on to the range.

The range was a cool setup. We were shooting at 175 yards. Each shooting block had a sensor at the end. This senses when the round is fired. The target has a sensor at it with 4 microphones. This allows the target to show where it was hit. Each shooting bay had an iPad linked to it. The iPad showed the target and where each shot hit. Each shooter had a clip with 5 rounds. To qualify and get 4 out of 5 in the center mass. 2 clips consecutive to qualify and get a go. The target told us how to adjust our sight based on the shot group. I didn’t get to shoot or zero my rifle yesterday, so I went first. First clip hit the target but was off as expected since it hadn’t been sighted in yet. I corrected the sight; next clip- 4 of 5 center mass with one barely off. Next clip- 5 of 5. sweet, the weapon shoots well and I was getting the hang of it. Then the DS “There you go country boy, didn’t even fire yesterday and you qualify in 15 shot- damn natural.” I was pretty proud until he said that was all I got to shoot. On to the next guy. Two whole freaking days and I only shot 15 rounds. GRRRRRR! About 70% of the guys didn’t get a go. That amazed me.

Also a truck from the PX came again. We were allowed 2 Powerades and a clifbar. Huge treat. I got a white cherry powerade and pumpkin spice clifbar. Yummy, yummy delish.

I’m out on CQ desk duty at the moment, but my shift is about to end, so bed soon.

Oh I got promoted from team leader (over about 8 guys) to squad leader (over about 16 guys) so that’s good and bad. Harsher punishment if my squad screws up and more responsibility. We shall see how it goes.

This week is flying. Saweet!!!!